Maternal mortality

Over half a million women die each year from complications due to pregnancy and childbirth. The vast majority of maternal deaths occur in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Among industrialized nations, however, the United States has the highest lifetime risk of maternal death, second only to Estonia. While the United States spends more than any other country on health care, it ranks 41st in lifetime risk of maternal death out of 171 other countries included in a 2005 World Health Organization study. Since maternal mortality is considered one of the best indicators of the overall public health of a nation, this is of major concern.

A higher proportion of women in Sierra Leone die in childbirth and pregnancy than almost anywhere else in the world.

Women and their families are forced to negotiate and pay for equipment and medications, and provide their own food and water, while they’re in a health facility, at one of the most vulnerable times in their lives.

Most people live far away from a medical facility and cannot afford transportation costs to a hospital or doctor.